


England's Losing Sleep

by FleuretteFfoulkes



Category: The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27427603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleuretteFfoulkes/pseuds/FleuretteFfoulkes
Summary: Percy spun slowly around in the middle of the dorm room, as if every eye wasn't already on him. "Truth," he said, when he was facing Marguerite again."What's your biggest secret?" Marguerite asked.
Relationships: Marguerite Blakeney/Percy Blakeney
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fifteen





	England's Losing Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the square "Truth or Dare" on my Trope Bingo card.

Marguerite's dorm room wasn't really made to fit two dozen people, but somehow they'd made it work. The main difficulty was keeping everybody quiet enough that the RA wouldn't come along and spot the frankly impressive quantity of contraband alcohol that they'd snuck in. After a month of worry—protests downtown, a huge upswing in drug overdoses, rumors of mob involvement, and nobody who could do anything about it even acting particularly concerned...except for the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel of course—Marguerite thought they all deserved a night to relax.

But if they relaxed _too_ much, they wouldn't have any fun. "Truth or dare!" Marguerite called out with an evil grin. Perched on the top bunk with five other people crammed in next to her, she swung her legs and looked around the room. "Suzanne, you start. And no softball questions if you pick Andrew."

Marguerite's roommate Suzanne gave her a shy smile. She was much too sweet to be very good at this game, which was why Marguerite figured it was best to get her turn out of the way early. "Tony," Suzanne said. "Truth or dare?"

Tony shrugged and took a drink from the red Solo cup he was holding. "Dare."

"I...um..." Suzanne's eyes flitted around the room, then suddenly sparked with mischief. "I dare you to call Professor Chauvelin and ask him about the essay assignment that's due tomorrow. And you can't let on that you're aware it's late or that you remember he told us never to call after 7pm."

"I always knew you had it in you!" Marguerite crowed.

Andrew was staring at Suzanne like he thought what she had said was the most amazing thing ever. Then again, he _always_ stared at her like he thought whatever she said was the best thing ever, so what else was new?

Tony stood up good-naturedly and made the call. Chauvelin's yelling could be heard from the other end of the line before Tony even had a chance to get a word out. "Um, hello?" Tony held the phone a few inches away from his face, wincing. "Yeah, but I didn't think it was _that_ late. I wanted to know how many citations you want us to have on the...What do you mean, you don't care? I thought you said there was going to be a whole rubric and everything...um, hello?" He brought the phone down and sighed deeply. "He hung up on me. Man, I'd better do a good job on that paper because he's going to be going over mine with a fine-toothed comb now. Nice one, Suzanne."

"Your turn!" Percy called out. "Who are you going to ask?" Percy was also sitting on the top bunk, crammed in between Jenny Portarles and Dave Grenville, where Marguerite could barely see him at all. Not that she _wanted_ to get a better look at him, but—well, yeah, frankly, she did. She'd had such a crush on him freshman year, and even though she'd found out since then that he was kind of dumb, that didn't make him any less hot.

Tony grinned. He wasn't Marguerite's type, but there was no denying it was a cute grin, especially when he directed it right at her. "Marguerite! Truth or dare?"

Marguerite shrugged, swinging her legs. "I've got no idea," she said. "Suzanne, choose for me."

"Truth," Suzanne said at once.

"Power, fame, or fortune," Tony said. "Pick one, but you can't use the one you choose to achieve the others; you can only have that one for the rest of your life."

Marguerite rather hoped to pursue all three once she graduated, but of course that wouldn't be a satisfactory answer. "Well, money is nice, but it definitely isn't everything," Marguerite said. "I mean, you can use it to help people, but how did I get the fortune in the first place? Did I hurt people for it? Or inherit it unjustly? I'd rather sidestep that whole mess. Fame would be just plain fun, though not as much fun if I didn't have the fortune to support a jetsetter lifestyle. But power...if I had power, I could fix things in the world. Like the Scarlet Pimpernel does. It would depend on what kind of power it was, but I think that's the one I'd pick."

"Fair enough," Tony said.

"Okay," Marguerite said, rubbing her hands together and making a show of looking around the room. But she already knew exactly who she was going to call on. "Percy! Truth or dare?"

Percy tapped Jenny on the arm until she stopped leaning on his shoulder, and then he jumped down from the bunkbed like the adorable stupid showboat that he was. He stepped into the middle of the room, raised his hands and spun slowly around as if every eye wasn't already on him, and then once he was facing Marguerite again, he made an attempt at some sort of elaborate old-fashioned bow that nearly dumped him on his face. "Truth."

One could always count on Percy to liven up a party. Marguerite supposed she really ought to have called on him first, instead of Suzanne, but she didn't want her attention to him to be _too_ obvious. "What's your biggest secret?" she asked.

Percy smiled, and his whole face lit up. " _I_..." He did another of the weird bow things. "am the Scarlet Pimpernel."

Everybody burst into laughter. "Aw, come on, take it seriously, Percy!" Andrew called out.

"You know if you lie when you promised me a truth, you have to pay a forfeit," Marguerite said sternly, though she could feel the corners of her mouth twitching, doing their best to curve into a smile.

"Hey, he _could_ be telling the truth," George Hanover said. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Suzanne. "I mean, has anybody ever seen the Scarlet Pimpernel and Percy in the same room?"

They all laughed again. "In that case, I'm the Queen of Spain," Marguerite called over the din. "Unless any of you have ever been to Spain and seen the Queen and me together? Which you couldn't, of course, since I'm her."

"What about that forfeit?" John Hastings called out, and the others took up the chant. "Forfeit, forfeit, forfeit!"

"How about a kiss?" Percy said, stepping up to the bunkbed and gazing up at Marguerite. "Would that be a sufficient forfeit?"

He really was quite good-looking. And for all of the stupid questions he asked in Philosophy class and for all of his bleating about "D's get degrees" and for all of the stupid jokes he told (the Scarlet Pimpernel? really???), when Marguerite looked into his eyes, somehow she couldn't quite remember why she'd ever thought he was stupid.

Marguerite slid off the side of the bunkbed and let Percy catch her in his arms. "It had better be a damn good kiss, and that's letting you off easy."

Percy bent down to her, and his soft mouth brushed against her slowly opening lips as she twined her fingers in his hair. Around them, their friends were cheering loud enough to bring the RA down on them for sure, but somehow Marguerite couldn't bring herself to worry about that at the moment. Percy deepened the kiss, and she allowed him to without hesitation, only clinging more tightly to him.

It might have been half a minute or it might have been a year when he finally let go, and Marguerite found herself blinking up at him, breathless. "Are you satisfied with your forfeit?" Percy asked, and his voice had gone slightly husky.

Marguerite felt like she could stand there forever, staring up at him, but that would give away far more about herself than she wanted anyone here to learn, even in a game of truth or dare. She forced herself to laugh lightly. "It was very nice, thank you. But you're still not the Scarlet Pimpernel."

"That's what you think!" Percy replied with a chuckle. "George, truth or dare?"

Marguerite climbed back up onto the bunkbed, George picked truth, and the game went on. But when Percy finally climbed back up to the top bunk a couple of minutes later, he didn't resume his previous spot between Jenny and Dave. He stepped past Dave, and past Jerry Wallescourt next to him, and climbed right up next to Marguerite. There wasn't really room for another person—especially one as broad and nicely muscular as Percy—between her and Jerry, but Marguerite squeezed up against the wall and Percy aimed a few genial elbows in Jerry's direction until everybody shifted down and made room for him.

By the time everybody had taken a turn, it was nearly midnight and enough people had class in the morning that the party disbanded by general agreement (though the people with a paper due the next morning in Professor Chauvelin's class were the loudest about needing to leave). As Percy started to climb off of the bunkbed, Marguerite realized she was holding his hand. How long ago had that happened? She waited until he had climbed down, and then she leaned over and kissed the top of his head. "You're still not the Scarlet Pimpernel," she said teasingly. "But I think you're pretty nice."

"Oh, I totally am," he said in a similar tone of voice. "But don't worry, I think you're pretty nice too. What time do you have class in the morning? Want to get breakfast before?"

"8:30," Marguerite said. "And my stomach absolutely can't tolerate a hurried breakfast, so we'd have to leave the dorm by 7:45. Am I worth getting up that early for?"

"Absolutely," Percy said. He took her hand, and in another one of those silly but adorable old-fashioned gestures, raised it to his lips and kissed the tips of her fingers. "It's a date."


End file.
